Video game characters aren't content to remain in digital realm forever.  We know all too well that beloved figures such as Mario, Link, Samus Aran, and even the Game Boy system itself have moved on to conquer the printed comic book page.  In addition to a Legend of Zelda recap, Platypus Comix takes us beyond the world of Nintendo to see other gaming properties at work in the comics world.  Marvel at the early adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog before he was speedy, cringe at the connection between Sonic and TV's ALF, drool at Lara Croft in evening wear (pictured here, because I bet you'd rather see Lara in evening wear than yet another picture of Sonic), and then mourn as the tomb raider meets a watery demise.  Hey, something for everyone!

According to this comic, Dr. Robotnik was once Dr. Kintobor ("Robotnik" backwards), a kindly scientist who aimed to rid Planet Mobius of evil by inventing a giant evil-sucking machine powered by the Chaos Emeralds. And Sonic was originally brown, like a proper hedgehog, but turned blue after he broke the sound barrier (on a treadmill). Sonic met Dr. Kintobor and prepared him a lunch consisting of one hard-boiled egg and a bottle of soda pop. But then Sonic spilled the soda onto the machine by accident and it broke and the evil escaped and went into Kintobor as he was holding the egg. He became Robotnik and immediately growled "I MUST DESTROY YOU....YOU WALKING PINCUSHION!!" The machine's inner workings were made of the golden rings, which were now scattered all over Mobius, and so your real goal in picking all those up was to rebuild the machine and turn Robotnik back into Kintobor. It was also implied that, by holding the egg as he got zapped, Robotnik had turned into an ACTUAL egg.

How many years did I assume that was the proper backstory behind the Sonic series? Don't ask.

I remember reading the aforementioned early Sonic comic way back in the fifth grade and hadn't seen or heard about it again until this article came up.  In fact, I recall a class project assignment that involved creating one's own comic book, so my group decided to just trace the Sonic comic characters, rearrange them into new panels, and add new dialog to create our own story.  Oh lord, did I just admit to creating Sonic the Hedgehog fan fiction?  Well, there goes my credibility.